And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?

To whom therefore shall I liken the men of this generation, and to whom are they like?

"To what then shall I compare the men of the present generation, and what do they resemble?

What comparison am I to make of the men of this generation? what are they like?

Then the Lord said: "Therefore, to what shall I compare the men of this generation? And to what are they similar?

"To what then," Jesus continued, "should I compare the people of the present generation? What are they like?

To what shall I compare? He does not include all the men of his age, but speaks particularly of the scribes and their followers. He charges them with this reproach, that while the Lord endeavored, by various methods, to draw them to himself, they repelled his grace with incorrigible obstinacy. He employs a comparison, which was probably taken from a common amusement of children; for there is probability in the conjecture, that the children divided themselves into two bands, and sang in that manner. And, indeed, I think that, in order to abase the pride of the scribes, Christ intentionally borrowed from children the materials of his reproof: thus declaring that, however distinguished they were, nothing more was necessary to condemn them than a song which children were wont to sing in the market-place for their amusement.

And the Lord said - Almost every MS. of authority and importance, with most of the versions, omit these words. As the Evangelistaria (the books which contained those portions of the Gospels which were read in the Churches) began at this verse, the words were probably at first used by them, to introduce the following parable. There is the fullest proof that they never made a part of Luke's text. Every critic rejects them. Bengel and Griesbach leave them out of the text.

(5) And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?
(5) Whatever manner God uses in offering us the gospel, most men bring offences upon themselves: yet nevertheless a Church is gathered together.

And the Lord said,.... This clause is not in the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions, nor in some copies, nor in Beza's most ancient copy; and being omitted, more clearly shows, that the two former verses are the words of Christ, and not an observation the evangelist makes, on the different behaviour of Christ's hearers, upon the commendation he had given of John:
whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation; or "to what men shall I liken them", as the Persic version: the phrase "men of this generation", is Rabbinical; so , the men of that "generation", are more beautiful in work than these, says the Targumist on Ecclesiastes 7:11. "And to what are they like?" To that which follows.

the Lord said, &c.--As cross, capricious children, invited by their playmates to join them in their amusements, will play with them neither at weddings nor funerals (juvenile imitations of the joyous and mournful scenes of life), so that generation rejected both John and his Master: the one because he was too unsocial--more like a demoniac than a rational man; the other, because He was too much the reverse, given to animal indulgences, and consorting with the lowest classes of society. But the children of Wisdom recognize and honor her, whether in the austere garb of the Baptist or in the more attractive style of his Master, whether in the Law or in the Gospel, whether in rags or in royalty, for "the full soul loatheth an honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet" (Proverbs 27:7).